…..SoSuterBill…..

……BILLY SUTER……

DURBAN’S Leah Mari, a recent winner of a Naledi Award for her lead role as ElIza Doolittle in the touring My Fair Lady, and currently performing the lead role in the touring musical Pretty Woman, has now been confirmed as a lead in another hit musical scheduled to tour South Africa.

Mari has landed the role of Sophie, the daughter, in a spectacular new revival of Mamma Mia! which, starring South African-born Broadway star Amra-Faye Wright in the principal role of Donna, will be staged later this year.

The show, produced by Showtime Management, will run from Thursday, September 3, to Sunday, October 11, at Artscape in Cape Town. It will then have a season from Friday, October 16, until the end of November, at the Teatro theatre at Montecasino in Johannesburg. Tickets are available at Ticketmaster.co.za.

Besides featuring Amra-Faye Wright – best known as the actress who has spent the most time in the role of Velma Kelly in Chicago The Musical on Broadway (for 23 years!) – the show will also star Samantha Peo (Cabaret, Thoroughly Modern Milly, Chicago The Musical, The Addams Family: The Musical) as Tanya. Peo reunites with Wright, opposite whom she starred (as Roxie Hart) in perhaps the defining South African version of Chicago The Musical in 2005.

South African-born Amra-Faye Wright has worked Internationally for 30 years, most notably as Velma Kelly in Chicago The Musical on Broadway, in London’s West End, throughout Europe, Japan (in Japanese!), South Africa, New Zealand and the concert version with the San Diego Symphony.

Her other musical theatre credits include Follies, A Chorus Line, Grease, Footloose, Peter Pan, Nunsense, Elvis Las Vegas and Butterflies. She has also been a regular guest artist in the annual Mabel Mercer Foundation’s Cabaret Convention at Jazz at Lincoln Centre NY, and is a recent graduate of the New York Academy of Art where she obtained an MFA in painting.

Resident in New York, Wright also spends part of the year at her home in McGregor in the Western Cape, and is thrilled to be back performing on the South African stage.

Lindy Abromowitz (Kinky Boots, Grease, The Sound of Music) plays Rosie in Mamma Mia!, joining Peo and Wright’s characters to form 1970’s all-girl pop band, Donna & the Dynamos.

Television, stage and screen actor Paul du Toit – who appeared in nine seasons or TV’s Binnelanders, as well as the stage hits Hedwig & The Angry Inch, The Rocky Horror Show and Into The Woods –  returns to the local stage as Sam Carmichael.Tiaan Rautenbach (Pretty Woman, We Will Rock You, The Addams Family: The Musical) reprises his role as Bill Austin, while Matt Newman (Sweet Phoebe, Betrayal) who has appeared in international television series including The Crown and Outlander, is back to reprise the role of Harry Bright.

Supporting roles are played by Jock Kleynhans (Neighbourhood, Janice Honeyman’s Beauty and the Beast Pantomime, Twelfth Night) as the bridegroom, Sky. His pals are played by Adriano Carlos (The Little Mermaid, A Chorus Line, and Beauty and the Beast) and Daniel Conradie (Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, My Fair Lady, Hairspray) as Eddie.

Sophie’s friends Ali and Lisa are played by Jordan Rogers(Beauty and the Beast, Pinocchio, Pretty Woman) and Michelle Juncker (Noises Off, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Pretty Woman).

The ensemble is packed with talent and includes Jemma-Claire Weil, Angelica Hattingh, Yethu Kibi,  Nicolette Fernandes, Liyabuya Gongo, Shannyn Fourie, Tshego da Silva and Dance Captain Claire Boswell. Also among the cast are Logan James, Bradley Smith, Dylan du Plessis, Nkosinathi Mazwai, James Mc Phail, Kenneth Meyer, Chichi and Jonathan Raath.

Returning members of the creative team include Janice Honeyman (director), Duane Alexander (choreographer), Denis Hutchinson (set and lighting design), Alistair Kilbee of Gearhouse Splitbeam (technical director), Darren Greeff (associate Producer plus resident director and choreographer) and Peter Taylor (company manager). New additions are David Classen (sound design), Birrie le Roux (costumes), Frances Moerdyk (wigs) and Daniel Geddes (music director). 

Mamma Mia! is, of course, the enchanting tale of family and friendship that unfolds on a Greek island paradise.  On the evening of her wedding, daughter and bride-to-be Sophie invites three men from her mother’s past back to the island they visited 20 years ago, in the hope of discovering which one is her father. 

This major international “guaranteed feel-good musical” features timeless Abba songs composed by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, including Knowing Me, Knowing You, Dancing Queen, I Have A Dream, Voulez Vous and many more.

 “Mamma Mia!” is a gift that keeps on giving,” says Hazel Feldman of Showtime Management. “Abba’s music is timeless and the story is fun and upbeat. With such an incredible cast and creative team in place for this production, we know South African audiences are guaranteed a great, feel-good show.”

 NOTE: A 20% Early Bird special discount is available for the month of April across the top two ticket prices – valid for September 3 and 4 at Artscape, and October 21 and 22 at Montecasino’s Teatro. The “Early Bird” special offer does not apply to any other show discount. T’s and C’s apply.